It's a Process
by CoffeeStainedPaper
Summary: I'm sharing part of my writing process for my upcoming Wayhaught fanfiction.


**Hey, guys! I have a fanfiction in progress, but whenever I start something new I do something I call a "character sample." I take a scene from the canon and try to capture it as perfectly as possible in writing. I've decided to share the samples for Nicole and Waverly. Listed before the samples are the episode and minute:seconds of the scene I used. I hope you enjoy them, and I hope that you come back for the fanfiction.**

 **Nicole**

 **102, 13:35-15:59**

Officer Nicole Haught pulled into the Shorty's parking lot at 1400 hours sharp. It was too early for happy hour, but there was no harm in checking out a local hotspot for shenanigans--especially when a certain curiosity worked there.

She stepped out of the squad car with slight hesitation. Normally using work hours for personal interests was forbidden, however; rules could change ever so slightly when the two intertwined. Hours of contemplation had brought Nicole to the conclusion that introducing herself to Waverly Earp could serve the noble purpose of understanding Purgatory's quirks. The possibility of a date with Waverly was really an afterthought. A bonus. A prayer. She didn't think that in the eight hours of sleep last night where she didn't wonder about Waverly Earp that she'd magically become single. Champ was a lucky man.

At this moment, Nicole fought the urge to get back in the car and hope nobody saw her stop there.

Nicole, you're better than this. She thought to herself, taking a deep breath. This is just part of the job. She pocketed a stray business card with her information on it slightly bent on the center console. As an officer in a small town, it is my duty to get to know the citizens. Her breath was visible in the falling temperatures. The desire for warmth didn't stop her from hesitating again at the unlocked door of Shorty's. And that includes--

Waverly Earp. Fighting with a broken bar tap that had become the victor by way of ruining a perfectly good shirt. Nicole removed her hat out of respect.

"I didn't know Shorty's had wet t-shirt competitions." Nicole's voice filled the empty bar and that had made her realize they were all alone. Her anxious energy became confidence and she gave her best smile. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Waverly stammered, "I'm just a bit jumpy, had a crazy night."

Nicole approached her and placed her hat on the bar. "Sorry I wasn't there to see it." She smiled again. Waverly was even prettier up close. Everything about her seemed soft; her voice, her long brown hair, her lips…Nicole swallowed her thoughts and stretched her hand to Waverly. "I've been meaning to introduce myself. I'm Nicole-Nicole Haught."

"Hi." Waverly offered a polite smile.

"You are Waverly Earp." Nicole was delighted by the shimmering smile on Waverly's face. "Quite the popular girl around here."

"Oh you know, it's all in the smile and wave." She actually smiled and waved.

When the moment was over and Waverly went back to patting herself dry, Nicole asked for a cappuccino to-go to give herself another reason for wandering into Shorty's besides the obvious flirting. Going back to the station empty handed might get an eyebrow-raise from Nedley. And that would be embarrassment enough.

"Oh, um, I'm really sorry, we're not actually open yet."

"Oh right, my bad," the words formed themselves and fell out of her mouth with professional ease, "it's just when I see something I like, I don't wanna wait." Too forward. "And your door was open, so." Nice save, Haught.

"Right." Waverly laughed to break the tension, "God, I'm sopping wet. I keep telling Shorty he needs to fix the darn taps."

Nicole stared at her, smile frozen on her face. Not only was Waverly prettier up close, she was easy to talk to.

"Sorry, do you mind uh…" Waverly covered her eyes until Nicole caught the signal.

She swiveled in her bar stool, facing the door now. Of course this would be the way she met Waverly, who was soaked in beer, and audibly struggling to get out of her ruined shirt. Nicole hoped the taps didn't ruin her chance at winning Waverly over.

"Oh crap. Officer, I'm stuck."

How rich. "Oh," she got up immediately, "let me help you. I got'cha." Nicole lifted the shirt off of Waverly.

"Good thing you're not some guy," Waverly nervously laughed, "or this would be really...really...awkward." The air was thick between them now. "Um..I owe you one."

A date? "All right, how about you buy me that cup of coffee." Nicole didn't want to wait long for the chance to see Waverly again, "how about tonight?"

Waverly struggled to find the exact words she wanted to use to decline the proposal resulting in an awkward admission to her relationship with Champ, the boy-man.

"A boy-man." Nicole laughed this time. A little bit at the ridiculousness of the situation. Come into a bar before rush-hour to say hi and end up helping a girl out of her soaked shirt after making it painfully obvious that this was a flirtatious first meeting. Then to have to mask the slight disappointment that the prettiest girl in Purgatory might not ever think of her the same way. "I've been there. It's the worst."

Nicole had already rounded the bar mid-sentence. She picked up her hat and remembered the business card in her pocket. She laid it on the bar hoping Waverly would use it someday. "Okay well, some other time." She made her way towards the door and with one last winning smile she said "I mean it."

Once she made it back outside, no cappuccino and no luck, she kicked a rock. It rolled under foot to further her disappointment. So sad that a girl like her was with a boy like him. No wonder the town was called "Purgatory."

 **Waverly**

 **109, 24:07-25:44**

Waverly Earp had walked for a long while after the unusual run-in with Nicole downtown. Walking was cleansing. It enabled her to take control of her thoughts in solitude. With Wynonna back in town after all those years, alone time was difficult to come by. Not that she resents Wynonna being back. It was just a change.

A change in a tidal wave that threatened the stability she worked so hard to gain after a childhood full of heartache and hustle. She thought she had built her emotional stilts tall enough but the water was rising.

She heard the sound of tires in the snow slowly approaching behind her. The last thing she needed was some weirdo following her out to the edge of town.

Her stomach twisted when she realized it was Nicole--Officer Haught, in the squad car pulling up next to her. The window rolled down, "Waverly, what are you doing?"

She didn't want to acknowledge Nicole's question. It was stupid. The answer was obvious. "Being alone." Duh, officer. "I want to be alone." Okay, maybe she was being a little too harsh, but it was necessary for keeping a comfortable distance between them.

"All right, well, you've reached the edge of town so any further out and you're gonna freeze to death."

Waverly kept walking, eyes locked on the ground. Nicole was right about freezing to death. Purgatory winters weren't a joke. She pulled her coat tighter around her.

"Get in the car." Nicole slipped in enough irritation into her concern to poison the whole sentiment.

"No, thank you." Waverly said.

"I've got a taser. Don't make me use it." Nicole sounded like she was teasing. Maybe not. Her dimples showed with her smile.

It was hard to resist. Seeing the tough-shelled officer smile that way in her direction felt like successfully translating a difficult passage written in a dead language, but it was also bittersweet because the meaning of the whole thing frightened her like nothing else.

She decided it was in her best interest to get in the car. She crossed the front of the vehicle, stomping a little as she did, wrenched the door open, then finally plopped into the seat with the weight of her burdens.

Nicole pulled the car over to the side of the road, parked, and let out a deep sigh. "Okay. So I'll start: I'm sorry for being such an asshole earlier." She let her hands fall from the steering-wheel into her lap.

"First you want to talk, then you don't want to talk, so you tell me to talk, so let's--" Waverly didn't mean to ramble. But given the situation and the proximity to Nicole, she couldn't help it.

"Maybe we should figure out what exactly it is we're talking about." Nicole said. Made sense enough. Finally.

Waverly wasn't sure where to start. There was so much going on. "Gus is selling Shorty's. She acts like she won't, but she is." She was happy to finally talk to someone other than Wynonna about it. Someone who wouldn't go in, guns a-blazin'. Literally. "Everything is changing around me but it's all too fast, you know? Nobody asks me if I'm okay with it. It's like, could everybody stand still for one fricken minute?" Even in that moment the world began to tilt out of focus.

In the quiet, she felt Nicole place her hand gently on her thigh. It made the air thicker. Nicole's reassurance hardly felt comforting. One of the changes she wished she could slow down were her ever growing feelings for Nicole. They were new...frightening. Nicole quickly withdrew her hand.

"I just screamed at you. You shouldn't be nice to me."

"I think you've been dating too many shitheads." Nicole said with a laugh.

"We're not dating." Waverly snapped.

"I know." Nicole's voice was quieter. "God, Waverly, I would never ask you to be someone you're not."

"Good. Just don't ask me to be anyone at all." Expectations were the ultimate killers.

"Fine."

"Fine." Waverly didn't want to make it seem like she didn't want anything to do with Nicole ever. That was the exact opposite of what she wanted. "Well. Maybe just friends."

"Yeah, sure Waverly, whatever you want." Nicole's disappointment cut Waverly deep. She put the car in gear and started to drive back to town. "Where am I taking you?"

"Shorty's, please." Waverly almost whispered. It was all happening so fast and much of it was unchangeable and out of her control. Not Gus selling Shorty's; not the curse, and definitely not her feelings for Nicole.

The car ride to Shorty's was quiet except for the static of the police scanner. The tension died down, allowing Waverly to have a moment of peace. It was what she needed with whom she needed.


End file.
